AMIDST POLARIZATION, WE SHOULD EMBRACE DIVERSITY

Curaçao must, in no uncertain terms, send a message that it remains committed to protecting its minorities as the world sees a dangerous rise in polarization along religious lines, and anti immigrant sentiments. The government is not the only responsible, but it must see itself as a driver of policy and rhetoric that shows that diversity and being a minority is not a threat. The message should be along the line that we are all Curaçaons and that we must guarantee the freedom, safety and equality of opportunity to all, irrespective of our differences. This is however not only a government task. As a community we must make a promise to never allow the fact that we belong to the majority override the protection and rule of law for minority groups in our country. Stereotyping, stigmatizing, bullying are concrete ways individuals express intolerance. Daily anyone who is Asian or even of Asian origin is referred to as “Chino” on our island. People speaking Spanish amongst themselves – many of whom were born in this Country, have a Dutch passport but speak the language because they have been brought up by Spanish speaking parents – are considered foreigners who are stealing our jobs. I could go on, but let me mention this. It was painful to see Facebook pages of too many Curaçaons explode with discriminatory comments when it was imminent that Miss Universe Haiti was going to become either the winner or the first runner-up of the world beauty pageant. Why? Do we somehow feel superior by belittling others? We must remember that intolerance in a society is the sum-total of the intolerance of all its individual members. We have to stop this. And we have to stop being quiet when it happens. We are all part of the solution. If anything, don’t we know all too well how it feels to be discriminated in the Netherlands? Well, these people are not somehow immune to our xenophobia. As for the Government and Parliament, it is well worth the time of the 21 Members of Parliament to dedicate some time to this issue. A wall-to-wall motion in the Parliament that makes the case for respecting diversity and building more inclusive societies to achieve this, would be a very good step.

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Author: alexdavidrosaria

Alex Rosaria is from Curaçao. He has a MBA from University of Iowa. He was Member of Parliament, Minister of Economic Affairs, State Secretary of Finance and United Nations Development Programme Officer in Africa and Central America. He is an independent consultant active in Asia and the Pacific.
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Alex David Rosaria (50) is from Curaçao and has a MBA from the University of Iowa. He is a former Member of Parliament, Minister of Economic Affairs, State Secretary of Finance and UN Implementation Officer in Africa and Central America.